Dedicated to Sri Sarada Devi

A Place where devotees gather to share inspiration.


"Holy Mother" painted by Swami Tadatmananda

Used courtesy of the Vedanta Society of Southern California

http://www.vedanta.org




Dedicated to Sri Sarada Devi
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Re: Some Questions






RE: Ever since a child I have read stories about Maa Sharada. In one of the stories, a disciple wonders who cleaned the courtyard every morning. One morning he woke up to find none other than Maa Sharada cleaning the ground. When he asked her, she replied that she cleaned the courtyard everyday, so that when the disciples woke up, the twigs would not be lying there, and hurt their feet.

From the story I learnt that the greatest quality of giving was to give without the others knowing, and not expecting in return.

I am a married woman , and when I try to apply them to my own life, I realise that most of my giving is wihout my family come to know about it. But sometimes I get irritated and start expecting the others in the family to realise this fact and give me more respect. Is this wrong ?

Comment:

When we realize that God dwells in all; including members
of our own family; then, we may easily serve them in a detached
manner; offering up the sacrifice to Him, who is very much
aware of our situation. Of course, the Holy Mother was filled
with such perfect love and devotion for all God' creatures; that she
sould not 'bear the thought' of any one of them, stepping on a sharp
twig in her courtyard; thereby causing unnecessary pain and
distress.

We must pray to the Holy Mother for strength and patience,
so that we may perform our daily duties, without attachment.

Will She ignore our cries for help?

Lord Jesus also said:
"Take care not to do your good deeds in such a way as to draw attention to yourself; you could lose the reward your Father has for you. When you help people, do it without fanfare, without that ostentation hypocrites employ to get the admiration of others. The truth is, they've already had all the reward they're going to get. That way is not for you. When you help someone, don't let your left hand know what your right is doing. Keep it secret, and your Father who knows all secrets will reward you."


Om Shanthi Om

Location: montreal

Re: Some Questions

You pose an extremely interesting question. My opinion is that you should diligently search your heart for the motives of your offerings to others.
Mother's only motive, was that the devotees should not harm their feet, or feel the pain of the twigs.
How sensitive of her!

I am glad you shared this story. I had not heard it before, and it has meaning to me.

Location: North Carolina

Re: Some Questions

Welcome, Milli.

You ask, "Is it wrong" to sometimes want more respect from your family? Wrong is too harsh of a word. What describe is our human condition. I am sure there is no one in the courtyard who does not feel as you do from time to time. There is never anything wrong with being human.

What there is, for all of us, is a choice. A choice between staying where we are in our personal development, or growing and expending in spiritual awareness. All spiritual traditions tell us that we have a higher potential and teach us ways to reach it. Unfortunely, sometimes this has been limited to a choice between "bad" and "good", but if we go to the heart of every tradition we find they offer a third choice, that which is "better".

Now, going into some of the teachings that have been described these posts.

First, why do we want recognition and respect? The short answer is, our ego seeks this, hence it is "wrong."

But the longer, more thorough answer is, our ego is both pointing to a higher truth and hiding it from us. We long for recognition and respect from others because we have forgotten who WE truly are.

Next, the teachings about doing things for others all begin from an essential foundation. Jesus said it thus: "You are the light of the world." We are not lowly slaves serving others. We are divine beings, who have forgotten our divinity.

When we practice the discipline of serving others without their knowing, it is actually to help us "set the ego aside" and enjoy being the divine serving the divine! When we are secure in our own divine nature then we will serve openly and not be affected by praise, blame, disrespect, etc., for then we will feel we are one with all others. In this, who is left to praise or blame?

However, as long as we feel ourselves separate beings, we are going to be caught up in the game of satisfying the ego. It's just the way nature is. But spiritual teaching assures us that our identification with the ego is misplaced and offers us ways to shift our identification so that we may realize our true divine Self.

Location: San Diego, California, USA

Re: Some Questions

I have discovered that appreciation is one of the deepest human needs that we have.

Location: North Carolina

Re: Re: Some Questions

Indeed it is, Rosemary. Coming directly from that longing to be recognized as our true Self. No human can grow or even survive well without experiencing appreciation.

Holy Mother taught appreciation of everyone and even everything. To Mother, even a broom deserves proper respect, because it gives service.

I cannot think of any spiritual -- higher spiritual -- teaching that says we are not entitled to respect and appreciation. Rather, higher spirituality says that we are worthy of the highest appreciation, that of divine beings!

And the greatest appreciation of all is our own appreciation. Because unless we have appreciation for our Self, we cannot appreciate others; unless we love ourselves, we cannot love others; without self-respect, we cannot respect others.

Each of these has a higher and lower manifestation. The lower, driven by the ego, is narrow and need-based. It's driven by selfishness born from attachment. It is weak and fragile because it is based on the idea that we are separate from one another.

The higher is Spirit-based, open and Self-fulfilled. No longer limited and needy, it embraces all and feels the interconnection. It is strength, and gives one self-assurance

Spiritual practice is the path that takes us from the lower to higher. It cannot do this, however, from a standpoint of unworthiness. Jesus never taught unworthiness in connection with spiritual teachings. Sri Ramakrishna found unworthiness the bane of religion. "If you think you are a sinner, a sinner you will be!"

Spiritual practice begins with a kernal of worthiness, and leads to full realization.

Location: San Diego, California, USA

Re: Some Questions

First of all my heart felt wishes for doing neoman services whatever u can...like u said everyone tries to provoke ur doing...that someone.. is other than the ma..herself..I believe she is testing her child ..to see whether her child has attained the thing that one needed to get awaken from the deep sleep of worldly pleasures..Praise them for giving a golden opportunity..& stay thankful whoever ..testifies & questions ur doings...keep ur heart unidirectional to the one...

Location: b'lore

Re: Re: Some Questions



Excerpted from:
Each is Great in His Own Place
"It is the most difficult thing in this world to work
and not care for the result, to help a man and never
think that he ought to be grateful, to do some good
work and at the same time never look to see whether
it brings you name or fame, or nothing at all.

Even the most arrant coward becomes brave when the world
praises him. A fool can do heroic deeds when the approbation
of society is upon him, but for a man to constantly do good
without caring for the approbation of his fellow men is indeed
the highest sacrifice man can perform."


Swami Vivekananda

Excerpted from: THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
Click Here to read whole article

Location: montreal